Book closes on sale of landmark school site

The kindergarten class at Killefer Elementary School in Orange is shown in 1945, one of the first years of integration. COURTESY OF THE ORANGE PUBLIC LIBRARY

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Orange Unified School District board last week has approved the sale of the unoccupied property, former Killefer Elementary, pictured, located at 541 N. Lemon St., to The Olson Co., a housing developer, for $5.1million. KEN STEINHARDT, STAFF PHOTOGRTAPHER

Children walk home past the unoccupied former Killefer Elementary, located at 541 N. Lemon St. in Orange. Unified School District board last week has approved the sale of the property, to The Olson Co., a housing developer, for $5.1million. KEN STEINHARDT, STAFF PHOTOGRTAPHER

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The first-grade class at Killefer School takes a portrait on the steps in 1946, a couple of years after integration. COURTESY OF THE ORANGE PUBLIC LIBRARY

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A weathervane featuring a cat stalking birds crookedly sits mounted atop the unoccupied former Killefer Elementary, located at 541 N. Lemon St. in Orange. Unified School District board last week has approved the sale of the property, to The Olson Co., a housing developer, for $5.1million. KEN STEINHARDT, STAFF PHOTOGRTAPHER

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Lydia Killefer, the namesake of Killefer Elementary School, is shown in a heart-shaped Valentine. COURTESY OF THE ORANGE PUBLIC LIBRARY

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A hand-crafted door is one of the old-world details of the former Killefer Elementary, located at 541 N. Lemon St. in Orange. Unified School District board last week has approved the sale of the property, to The Olson Co., a housing developer, for $5.1million. KEN STEINHARDT, STAFF PHOTOGRTAPHER

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A female bird protects her nest built inside an exhaust vest at the former Killefer Elementary, located at 541 N. Lemon St. in Orange was broken into.. Unified School District board last week has approved the sale of the property, to The Olson Co., a housing developer, for $5.1million. KEN STEINHARDT, STAFF PHOTOGRTAPHER

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Windows on the front facade, containing now considered art glass, are not boarded up at former Killefer Elementary, located at 541 N. Lemon St. in Orange. Unified School District board last week has approved the sale of the property, to The Olson Co., a housing developer, for $5.1million. KEN STEINHARDT, STAFF PHOTOGRTAPHER

The kindergarten class at Killefer Elementary School in Orange is shown in 1945, one of the first years of integration. COURTESY OF THE ORANGE PUBLIC LIBRARY

Killefer bids

The Olson Co.: $5.1 million

Western State Housing: $5.075 million

City Ventures: $4.1 million

Sheldon Development: $3.75 million

Chapman University: $3.7 million

Source: Joe Sorrera, assistant superintendent of business services

Mendez, et al. v. Westminster

In 1946, five Mexican American families sued the Westminster, Garden Grove, Santa Ana and El Modena school districts for the practice of segregating white students and Latino students. A year later, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the segregation was unconstitutional. The ruling put an end to segregation in California, seven years before Brown v. Board of Education ended segregation nationally.

When Paul Guzman was entering fifth grade, he had to go to a new school.

It was 1944, and the elementary school he had been attending, Cypress Street School, had been closed down. Now, he and the rest of his schoolmates had to go a block away to Killefer Elementary School.

Up until that point, they wouldn’t have been allowed to go to Killefer; it was the white school and they were Latino. But that year, after Cypress Street closed, it was integrated.

“From going to a segregated school to an integrated one, it wasn’t a shock,” said Guzman, 82, now living in Santa Ana. “Those kids, we used to see them after our school, when we were segregated, so we knew some of them. I had a good friendship with some of the boys there. Everybody was very receptive, because we knew each other.”

Last week, the Orange Unified School District board approved selling the Killefer school site at 541 N. Lemon St. to a developer. But local historians worry the sale will mean losing a piece of history – losing a school that they say was one of the first in the state to voluntarily desegregate.

“As the district, we are selling the property, but we’ll work with the community as much as we can,” said Joe Sorrera, assistant superintendent of business services.

Killefer has been closed for more than 20 years. In 2008, the school board declared it surplus property, setting the stage for its sale.

In February, the board approved selling Killefer for a minimum of $2.4million. The district received five bids on the property, all more than the minimum. The board was legally obligated to take the highest bid or reject them all.

At last week’s meeting, the school board voted 5-2 to sell Killefer to The Olson Co., a housing developer, for $5.1million. The sale will close after an 18-month escrow.

Money for the sale would go toward the district’s capital improvements. Work needed at its four high schools could cost $100million for each school, officials have said.

Bill Holford, president of Olson Communities, said the company is looking at building 30 townhomes. As with past developments in historic neighborhoods, Olson will try to design the homes to commemorate the location’s history, he said.

“We’ll work with the city closely and historical groups and residents and come up with a plan that works for everyone,” Holford said.

Segregation in California officially went away in 1947 with the landmark Mendez, et al. v. Westminster decision. But Killefer desegregated three years before that.

Killefer opened in 1931. It was named after Lydia Killefer, a farm girl who became an Orange school teacher. She taught from 1895 to 1938. The last seven of those years, she was the principal at the school named for her.

Cypress Street School, at 544 N. Cypress St., also opened in 1931. It replaced the previous Hispanic school, Sycamore, which had closed.

At Cypress Street, the kids were taught a curriculum that included “Americanization,” said Leo Castro, president of the Orange Barrio Historical Society. There was a strict prohibition on speaking any language other than English.

It’s unclear exactly why the school district closed Cypress Street and chose to integrate Killefer, Castro said. He said he believes the district knew it would eventually have to integrate the schools anyway.

Doug Westfall, a local historian, offered another possible reason: Orange’s population didn’t have enough students to fill both schools. By the time it closed, Cypress Street had classes with as few as 12 or 13 students, Westfall said.

Guzman, the man who transferred from Cypress Street to Killefer, recalled his main adjustment was getting used to new facilities. His new teacher at Killefer, he said, was particularly patient.

Cypress Street has since been bought and restored by Chapman University for its Early Human and Lifespan Development Research Program.

Guzman, too, would like to see Killefer restored. Ideally, he would want it to be a school again.

“I’m a little bit saddened that the community has not grasped the thing about that school,” Guzman said. “It would really bring something to the community to nurture Killefer back to life.”

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